WPFD 2021: Attacks on press freedom growing bolder amid rising authoritarianism

Authoritarian and illiberal-minded regimes are becoming increasingly emboldened in their efforts to stifle independent media, the International Press Institute (IPI) warned ahead of World Press Freedom Day 2021. Brutal crackdowns on the press are unfolding openly across the globe. After seizing power in a coup on February 1, Myanmar’s military junta has arrested more than 70 journalists, revoked licences of independent media outlets, and repeatedly blocked internet access. In Belarus, the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko launched a campaign to criminalize reporting on protests against last year’s fraudulent election. Local watchdogs have recorded over 550 attacks on journalists, including…Read more

Bangladesh journalist Abu Tayeb jailed under Digital Security Act

  • Posted on April 26, 2021
  • /Under Arrest
Bangladesh authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalist Abu Tayeb, and reform the country’s draconian Digital Security Act, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At about 10 p.m. on April 20, police in the central city of Khulna arrested Tayeb, a correspondent for the broadcaster NTV and Khulna Gazette and Dainik Loksomaj newspapers, after the city’s mayor, Talukder Abdul Khalek, filed a Digital Security Act case against him, according to multiple news reports. Yesterday, a Khulna court denied Tayeb’s request for bail and sent him to jail pending an investigation into that complaint, those reports said. Several lawyers are…Read more

Police detain Ghanaian journalist David Tamakloe overnight in relation to ‘false news’ complaint

  • Posted on April 19, 2021
  • /Under Arrest
Police in Ghana should drop their investigation into journalist David Tamakloe and allow him to report freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On April 1, in Accra, the capital, four police officers in plainclothes arrested Tamakloe, editor-in-chief of the privately owned Whatsup News website, and detained him for about 24 hours at the city’s National Police Headquarters, seized his two phones and mobile hotspot, and then released him on bail on April 2, according to Tamakloe, who spoke with CPJ in a phone interview, and a report by the privately owned Myjoyonline news website. Officers released…Read more

Cameroonian journalist Emmanuel Mbombog Mbog Matip detained since August 2020

Cameroonian authorities should immediately release journalist Emmanuel Mbombog Mbog Matip and all other members of the press imprisoned for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On August 17, 2020, six armed men in plainclothes arrested Mbombog Mbog Matip, director of the privately owned CliMat Social newspaper who also posts political commentary on Facebook, at his home in Yaoundé, the capital, according to a report by the privately owned CamerounWeb news website and a letter from the journalist that was published by local media in February. Mbombog Mbog Matip was held at the State Secretariat for Defense (SED) until…Read more

At least 17 journalists injured covering protests in Bangladesh

Bangladesh police must ensure that officers do not harm members of the press covering protests, and should investigate attacks on journalists by demonstrators and police officers, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On March 25 and 26, in Dhaka, the capital, members of the Chhatra League, the youth wing of the ruling Awami League political party, attacked people demonstrating against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh, and used sticks to beat journalists covering the protests, according to news reports. Also on March 26, Dhaka police fired tear gas and rubber bullets…Read more

Pakistani journalist Ajay Lalwani dies after suffering three gunshot wounds

Authorities in Sindh province, Pakistan, must immediately launch a credible investigation and apprehend those responsible for the killing of journalist Ajay Lalwani, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.  Lalwani, a local general news correspondent for the privately owned Urdu language Daily Puchano, died yesterday after suffering three gunshot wounds on Wednesday evening in Sukkur, in northern Sindh Province, according to Imdad Soomro, a correspondent of national English daily The News, who saw Lalwani in the hospital before he died, and Ashiq Jatoi, editor of the Daily Puchano, both of whom spoke to CPJ over the…Read more

Ugandan president threatens to “bankrupt” leading daily

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s threat to bankrupt his country’s leading daily newspaper by means of a lawsuit is unworthy of a head of state, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says, calling on him to respect press freedom in Uganda. Speaking on International Women’s Day (8 March), the country’s president for the past 34 years said he was bringing a legal action against the Daily Monitor for reporting that the Wall Street Journalhad said his “inner circle” was given Chinese-made vaccines against Covid-19 ahead of other people in Uganda. “Monitor, I’m going to make you bankrupt,” Museveni said, adding that he would…Read more

Nigerian police attack journalist Eniola Daniel over photographs of building demolitions

Nigerian authorities should conduct a credible and transparent investigation into the assault of journalist Eniola Daniel and hold his attackers to account, say the Committee to Protect Journalists. At about 11 a.m. on February 28, seven police officers—six in uniforms and one in plain clothes—attacked Daniel, a reporter with the privately owned Nigerian newspaper The Guardian, after he photographed makeshift buildings that the officers had demolished in the Western Apapa council area of Lagos state, according to the journalist, who spoke by phone with CPJ, and a report and video of the attack posted by his employer. Daniel…Read more

Ugandan soldiers assault journalists at Bobi Wine event, face opaque military trial

On February 17, a group of Ugandan military police officers used sticks and batons to beat at least 10 journalists covering opposition politician Robert Kyagulanyi, known popularly as Bobi Wine, while he delivered a petition to a United Nations office in Kololo, a neighborhood of the capital Kampala, according to nine of those journalists, who spoke to CPJ, media reports, and statements by local press rights groups. The following day, the head of Uganda’s military, General David Muhoozi, gave a press conference in which he apologized for the attacks and promised to pay the journalists’ medical bills. Also that…Read more

Bangladeshi journalist Borhan Uddin Muzakkir dies of gunshot wounds

Bangladeshi authorities must swiftly identify the killers of journalist Borhan Uddin Muzakkir and hold them to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On February 19, in the Companiganj area of Bangladesh’s southern Noakhali district, police and armed demonstrators opened fire during clashes in the street between two factions of the ruling Awami League party, each of which is seeking power in the Companiganj area, according to the Daily Star. At least nine people were shot at the demonstration, according to that report. A bullet from an unidentified shooter hit Muzakkir, a reporter…Read more